About Me
I began collecting military antiques when I was ten years old. My father used to take me to all of the museums and estate sales in the DC area and my grandfather gave me his medals from his service in World War II. From that point on, I was hooked on history.
I studied history at The Catholic University of America and earned a BA in 1998. Prior to graduation, I served as an intern at the National Museum of the United States Navy. In 1999, I entered the History Program at Kansas State University and earned an MA two years later. After graduate school, I served as the Staff Historian for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society on a two-year contract to organize their archives. After my contract ended, I went to work for an antique business.
In 2006, I started my full-time research and antiques business and enjoyed every minute of it. I located and scanned documents for Navy Veterans who were trying to obtain benefits based on their service in Vietnam. I also scanned World War II and Korean War unit records for the children of veterans who wanted to know what their fathers did in the war. In 2009, The Naval Historical Foundation became a client, and I went to work finding historical photographs for The Cold War Gallery that they were building at the National Museum of the United States Navy.
I ended up working as a historian at The Naval History and Heritage Command. From 2010-2015, I interviewed over 100 active-duty officers, sailors and veterans, answered historical inquiries from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Congressional Staffs and the public, and wrote entries in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The most interesting times were when I interviewed sailors on a destroyer off the coast of Virginia and aviators on a carrier crossing the Atlantic. I no longer work for the Navy and focus on my military antiques and old firearms business.
I went through the process of obtaining a Federal Firearms License and my State Police Regulated Firearms Dealer License after talking to a few families that turned in their father's pistols to be destroyed. One family turned in a World War II General's Pistol to their local police. It survived World War II but did not survive being melted down.